House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Communications...
House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., urged their panels to examine Verizon’s proposed spectrum deal and Verizon’s conditional sale of its Lower 700 MHz A- and B-block spectrum. The request…
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was made in a letter sent Thursday to Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. Verizon Wireless said this month it will sell part of the 700 MHz spectrum it owns if the FCC approves the carrier’s buy of advanced wireless service (AWS) licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox (CD April 19 p1). FCC officials have raised concerns about whether Verizon’s purchase of the AWS licenses would give the company too dominant of a spectrum position versus its competitors (CD March 30 p1). It’s important for the committee to examine the “policy implications of these deals carefully and hear testimony from opponents and supporters of these transactions,” the letter said. The Rural Cellular Association (RCA) endorsed the letter and said “the proposed transactions will not help restore competition to the marketplace.” RCA CEO Steven Berry said Verizon’s sale of the lower 700 MHz spectrum band “is not sufficient to resolve the competitive concerns raised in the transactions with the cable companies. Further, interoperability in the Lower 700 MHz spectrum band must be addressed to sufficiently restore competition to the marketplace and benefit consumers, and I cannot stress enough the importance of an interoperability requirement and conditions on this transaction for competitive carriers and consumers.”